It's the tourism high season - both for overnight and cruise sectors. But the movement of tourists in the cruise sector has been impeded for the last year at least by the buildup of silt in the Belize harbor. It's a perpetual problem - and up until a few years ago - dredging was done at regular intervals.
But that stopped after COVID and the silt buildup has been slowing down the large catamaran sanders by filling their engines with silt, causing them to overheat.
This slows the flow and affects the number of cruise visitors that can be moved in a day.
But, recently dredging has commenced - our reports say it's funded by the BTB - even though the state of the harbor is the Port Authority's responsibility.
BTB's Director of Tourism Evan Tillet says that Central government is the one overseeing the process. He gave us more details today.
Evan Tillet, Director of Tourism
"Well if you can see the dredging is ongoing as we speak there were some challenges but I think those have been worked out and it is being done as we speak."
JO-
"And it's being paid from out of BTB?"
Evan Tillet, Director of Tourism
"The dredging is done via the central government I think there is an agreement there and they are the ones that are paying for the dredging. We were involved in the process in terms of it affects an entire cruise industry and so we have to ensure that it is done properly to ensure that the industry can work seamlessly and efficiently."
JO-
"So if it's not BTB's job to pay should that be something that the Belize port authority should?"
Evan Tillet, Director of Tourism
"Well as far as I know the Belize Port authority has the responsibility for that area but I think that the government sees the need and the importance of it being done in order to facilitate an entire cruise tourism sector and I think that's important."
Tillett said he doesn't know the cost of the dredging - while our reports suggest it's close to a million dollars.
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